Basic audio processing for narration is so mature that it now free or costs very little. Though it’s easily accessible to anyone, how many recording audio know how to use it?
It’s another election year and hundreds of candidate speeches will be recorded by news reporters and campaign operatives on the stump. Some will be recorded on video on smartphones and others on audio recorders. Virtually all reporters are dependent today on the internet to connect with homebase. But what happens when the net fails?
Automatic microphone mixing, long a staple of commercial sound installations, has moved to professional dialogue recording for film and television production. This is the story of that journey over the past half century.
In today’s highly competitive television broadcast landscape, the on screen presentation of a broadcaster’s programming can mean the difference between ratings success and failure. That’s why many have embraced virtual sets as a cost-effective way of improving their on-air look by either replacing an existing physical studio set or expanding the studio space without physical building any new walls.
The microphone preamplifiers in most low-cost audio mixers and recorders are now optimized for high-output condenser microphones. However, dynamic and ribbon microphones produce output levels that are too low for normal use by these devices. There is now a simple solution to this problem.
Ribbon microphones are as old as recording itself. Now a new generation of ribbons has erased old problems and limitations and excels in modern digital recording.
Shotgun microphones have long been the staples of live recording. In the 1970s and 80s, virtually all professional shotguns used for location sound were “true” condensers costing over $1,000. Now, a new breed of electret condenser shotguns have appeared. Many wonder, what are the differences and how much does it matter?
Before computers — when the audio for television commercials was edited with razor blades — sound mixers typically created premixed tracks at the beginning of the spot-making process. Then, after computers, the mixer’s role was reversed — with many relegated to simply polishing the final commercial after editing. Now, sound mixers want that to change.
